The most expensive part of climate-proofing a new building is often the time it takes to realize you need to. For an architect exploring a tower's impact on pedestrian wind comfort, or a planner modeling solar gain on a public square, the traditional answer involves computational fluid dynamics (CFD) specialists, months of queue time, and a consulting bill that can run into six figures. By the time the report lands, the design is often locked in, the climate analysis a costly postscript rather than a guide.
Infrared City, a Vienna-based startup spun out of the Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT), is betting that timeline is a solvable inefficiency. Its browser-based platform promises to turn those months-long expert consultations into instant, iterative simulations for wind, solar, and thermal comfort [PERPLEXITY SONAR PRO BRIEF, retrieved 2024].
The academic wedge into urban planning
The company's credibility is rooted in its origin. Infrared City is the commercial vehicle for five years of R&D from AIT's City Intelligence Lab, which CEO and co-founder Angelos Chronis previously headed [EuroQuity, retrieved 2024]. The team, which includes co-founders Christos Chatzakis (CTO), Oana Taut (Product Lead), and Theodoros Galanos (Chief Scientific Officer), built the core simulation models within a research context focused on urban microclimates.
What the AI is actually modeling
The platform's current capabilities focus on three interlinked environmental forces:
- Solar and sunlight analysis. This maps radiation exposure over surfaces and through time.
- Wind analysis. Using AI models trained on high-fidelity CFD data, it simulates airflow around structures.
- Thermal comfort and heat stress. This combines solar and wind data with humidity and material properties to predict how a space will actually feel to people [infrared.city, retrieved 2024].
The funding and the early-stage map
In October 2023, the company closed a €1 million (approximately $1.1 million) pre-seed round led by Vienna-based xista science ventures, with participation from 2bX, Heartfelt, Antler, and P3A Ventures [xista science ventures, October 2023].
| Company | Primary Approach | Key Differentiator |
|---|---|---|
| Autodesk Forma | Integrated feature within a vast architecture/engineering suite | Deep workflow integration for existing Autodesk users |
| cove.tool | Standalone web platform for building performance analysis | Strong focus on energy modeling and code compliance |
| ClimateStudio | Plugin for Rhino/Grasshopper, beloved by avant-garde architects | High-fidelity physics and a cult following in design studios |
| infrared.city | AI-powered SaaS for real-time urban microclimate simulation | Speed and accessibility for iterative wind/thermal comfort analysis |
Where the simulation meets the street
The most credible risk for Infrared City isn't technical accuracy, but commercial adoption. The built environment moves slowly, and purchasing decisions are often tied to large, multi-year software suites from vendors like Autodesk. Convincing a time-pressed architecture firm to add another subscription requires proving that the time saved directly translates to better, more profitable, or more compliant designs.
The calculation for a cooler city
The back-of-the-envelope math is compelling. Assume a midsize development project where a traditional wind study costs $50,000 and takes 12 weeks. If Infrared City's service costs one-tenth of that and delivers results in an afternoon, the saved capital and schedule could allow for the analysis of three alternative massing designs instead of one. The climate impact isn't just in the efficiency of the final building, but in the expanded possibility space for designing it right the first time.